CultureAugust 18, 2026

quarantine

KWOR-uh-teen

Definition

A period of isolation imposed on people or animals to prevent the spread of a contagious disease.

Etymology

Derived from the Italian 'quarantina giorni', meaning 'forty days', referring to the traditional period ships were required to isolate in port during the Black Death to prevent infection.

In the news

The author references doors painted with red crosses of quarantine to illustrate the historical significance of Samuel Pepys's personal accounts of surviving a plague outbreak.

Feeding our books into generative AI risks creating a cultural void

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New Scientist

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